Ok so I have always had trouble with IT budgets no matter where I work, but this is a new one to me and I wanted to see if anyone else has ever been asked this.

We need new servers and various equipment. I brought this up the owners of the company in our monthly IT meeting(again). They asked me to sell our old phone system on craigslist in order to help with the cost of the new server. I think I need to find a new job.

So has anyone ever been asked to sell old equipment in order to buy desperately needed new equipment?

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Ok so I have always had trouble with IT budgets no matter where I work, but this is a new one to me and I wanted to see if anyone else has ever been asked this.

We need new servers and various equipment. I brought this up the owners of the company in our monthly IT meeting(again). They asked me to sell our old phone system on craigslist in order to help with the cost of the new server. I think I need to find a new job.

So has anyone ever been asked to sell old equipment in order to buy desperately needed new equipment?

Wow, that's kinda nutty. You'd have to make a successful migration and if your buyer wants the old phone system quickly; your migration window is very small. Not to mention, you won't get money for your new server until you've made backups and you don't really know how long it'll take to restore the backup to the new server (let alone hoping and praying that it's compatible).

I would say that they need to pay up FIRST. THEN you can sell the old one. Therefore, you won't be pressured with your migration window

I've been asked to sell old equipment to buy, LESS necessary equipment. But I have to say, if you go to the ownership and tell them that we need the following equipment or we will be out of business and their response is - we need to sell some junk first - it's definitely not a sign of job security.

I've sold our last phone system. Kind of a pain in the rear. First, I had to count all the separate option cards and phone handsets to get and offer. Then I had to box them all fill out shipping labels , and drive them over to UPS to ship them out. And then ended up getting gypped when the buyer claimed that I hadn't sent all the stuff I promised (I had tracking #'s on everything that proved it was delivered) and shorted me on the check. Got it out of the office without having to pay someone to cart it away, but definitely not worth my time.

I am now working on shipping back workstation UPS's, For that, I have to box all the batteries, palletize them and get a truck out for a LTL load. Bringing in my steel-toed Carolina's for that job. Don't want to break another toe by dropping an battery on it.

Those owners are delusional and someone needs to have a heart to heart with them about what they should expect with regard to their IT budget. If they don't "get" it, then what are they going to do for you when raise time comes around?

I've seen owners where they say "we already have computers, why do we need new ones when these are perfectly good". They just don't get it, and unless you explain it to them, they never will.

Even if you do sell some old telco equipment - the max you would likely get on the high end is 5-10% of the cost of the new phone system. Does that even justify your time to sell it? The numbers will never add up.

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